Planar waveguide bragg lens and its utilization

Abstract

The planar waveguide Bragg lens and a component utilizing a planar waveguide Bragg lens with a greater acceptance angle characterized by several grating structures being arranged in series and having an inclination towards one another for varying angles of incidence. In one embodiment, each of the grating structures are circular arc segments which are interconnected together to form a single grating structure having curved segments which also has a greater acceptance angle than a conventional planar waveguide Bragg lens.

We claim: 
     
       1. A planar, waveguide Bragg lens being off-axis with a high deflection efficiency for light of various angles of incidence, said lens comprising a plurality of grating structures being arranged in series and each of said structures having grating elements being inclined relatively towards the elements of the other structures so that the ranges of the angle of incidence of the individual grating structures overlap and light from various point sources can be imaged with approximately equal quality by said lens. 
     
     
       2. A planar waveguide Bragg lens according to claim 1, wherein the grating structures have different focal lengths. 
     
     
       3. A planar waveguide Bragg lens according to claim 2, wherein the focal line of the different focal points of the entire lens structure lies on a plane extending substantially perpendicular to the optical axis. 
     
     
       4. A planar waveguide Bragg lens according to claim 1, wherein each of grating elements of each of the grating structures is a circular arcuate segment and the individual grating structures are connected by means of circular arcuate segments so that a curved grating structure for varying angles of incidence is produced. 
     
     
       5. A planar waveguide Bragg lens according to claim 4, wherein different parts of the curved grating structure have different focal lengths. 
     
     
       6. A planar waveguide Bragg lens according to claim 5, wherein the focal line of the different focal points of the entire lens structure lie on a plane extending substantially perpendicular to the optical axis. 
     
     
       7. A planar waveguide Bragg lens being off-axis with a high deflection efficiency for light of various angles of incidence, said lens comprising a curved grating structure having different parts at different angles for receiving light with varying angles of incidence and said parts satisfying the Bragg condition so that light from various point sources can be imaged with approximately equal quality. 
     
     
       8. A planar waveguide Bragg lens according to claim 7 wherein the parts of the curved grating structure have varying focal lengths. 
     
     
       9. A planar waveguide Bragg lens according to claim 8, wherein the focal line of the focal points of the entire lens structure lie on a plane extending substantially perpendicular to the optical axis. 
     
     
       10. In a planar optical component utilizing a planar waveguide Bragg lens and a plurality of detector elements, the improvement comprising the planar waveguide Bragg lens being off-axis with a high deflection efficiency for light of various angles of incidence, said lens comprising a plurality of grating structures arranged in series and each grating structure having grating elements being inclined relatively towards the elements of other structures at varying angles so that the range of the angle of incidence of the individual grating structures overlap and light from various point sources can be imaged with approximately equal quality by said lens, and said component includes waveguides extending between a plane of focal points for the Bragg lens and the detector elements. 
     
     
       11. In a planar optical component according to claim 10, wherein the waveguides are strip waveguides. 
     
     
       12. In a planar optical component according to claim 10, wherein the waveguides extending from the plane of focal lines to the detector elements diverge apart and said detector elements are arranged at a greater interval than the spacing between focal lines on said plane. 
     
     
       13. In a planar component according to claim 10, wherein the grating elements of each of the grating structures are circular arcuate segments and the individual grating structures are connected by means of circular arcuate segments so that a single lens having a curved grating structure is formed.